Female-headed homes hit hard by acute food insecurity in Sri Lanka

Asia’s highest inflation rates and ongoing fuel scarcity continue to threaten food security in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka continues to experience an unprecedented economic crisis with high inflation, rising commodity prices, power shortages and scarcity of fuel.

The World Food Program said that Asia’s highest inflation rates and ongoing fuel scarcity continue to threaten food security in Sri Lanka.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an estimated 6.2 million people in Sri Lanka are facing moderate to severe acute food insecurity, with one in every four households applying negative coping strategies such as reducing the number of meals per day, reducing expenses on other essential things such as healthcare or withdrawing children from school.

Female-headed households are seen to be particularly hard, as are the urban poor and people working in the estate sector.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that given the deteriorating food security and nutrition situation in Sri Lanka and the strong likelihood that the upcoming Maha season will not produce sufficient yields, several countries have pledged further assistance, especially towards improving food security and the critical inputs for the agriculture sector.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced an additional US$20 million in humanitarian assistance, bringing USAID’s total assistance to nearly US$92 million since June of this year.

The United Kingdom pledged £3 million in lifesaving support going mostly toward
food security and supporting farmers, while the EU released €1.5 million in humanitarian aid which will mainly be utilized for multipurpose cash assistance.

The final agreement on the US$2,9 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still pending, subject to the approval by IMF Management and the Executive Board.

Agencies